Ashutosh Mehta (L) and Laxmikant KattimaniContrasting emotions were on display at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune as FC Pune City claimed their first victory of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL). Riding on two splendid goals by Kostas Katsouranis and David Trezeguet, the home side bounced back from their defeat at the hands of Mumbai City FC a week ago.Speaking to indiansuperleague.com in an exclusive chat after the game, Pune’s dynamic midfielder Ashutosh Mehta was overjoyed that his side had finally found their scoring touch, “Winning at your home ground is the most beautiful feeling in the world and we had two great goals to light up the occasion. The fans were brilliant and supported us throughout the game. I am overjoyed that we went out there and got the result.”When asked about what clicked for them in this game, Mehta was quick to respond, “Passion! We really wanted to win this game so badly. We were at it the entire week and worked our socks off. I think all our hard work paid off!”The strapping midfielder was also quick to acknowledge his coach Franco Colomba’s contribution to their victory. “We did not have an off day. We practised twice a week and our coach ensured that we kept working hard. Trezeguet also kept motivating and pushing us to do better.” Considering their next two games are also at home, Mehta stated that Pune would look to keep their good form going. “We will look to keep up the good work. We have momentum behind us and we will try and capitalise on it.”On the other hand, FC Goa’s Laxmikant Kattimani was disappointed after his team lost out yet again. “We were unlucky. We hit the woodwork and came close to equalising at times but sadly we could not get anything from the game.”The goalkeeper lamented the absence of Robert Pirès, “The whole complexion of the game would have been different. He brings a lot to us in midfield. We missed him today.”Having picked up the ISL Emerging Player of the Match Award, Kattimani was happy with his first start though and vowed to improve with every opportunity handed to him. “I have a long way to go and I will try to keep improving at every given chance.” The young goalie signed off with some optimism, “We play our next game at home. We shall look to give it our all and work even harder. The fans will give us an extra lift and hopefully we will come up with a win.”
